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With the exception of a few districts in Alsace-Lorraine, the political boundary between France and Germany is also the linguistic line between French and German languages. This condition is a result of the modifications which French frontiers have undergone since the treaty of Utrecht in 1714. Unfortunately the Napoleonic period and its disorderly train of political disturbances brought about an unnatural extension of the northern and eastern lines. France departed for a time from the self-appointed task of attracting French-speaking provinces to itself. Between 1792 and 1814 almost all of the territory of Belgium and Holland was annexed and the eastern frontier extended to the Rhine. Teutonic peoples in Holland, Flanders, Rhenish Prussia and the western sections of Hesse and Baden passed under French control. But their subjection to Napoleon’s artificial empire was of relatively short duration. The German-speaking people in 1813 united in a great effort to drive the French across the Rhine. They were merely repeating the feat of their ancestors who, at an interval of eighteen centuries, had defeated the Latin-speaking invaders of their country led by Varus. Success in both movements was largely the result of the feeling of kinship based on language. In 9 A.D. the Romans were forced back to the Rhine from the line they occupied on the Weser. The treaty of Vienna restored French boundaries to the lines existing in 1790. French territory was once more confined to the normal boundaries which inclose members of the French-speaking family. A natural frontier thus became determined for the country. The union of Frenchmen into a compact political body was shattered, however, by the treaty of Frankfort in 1871, when France was obliged to cede the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.

The part to be played by the province of Lorraine in the history of Franco-German relations was laid out by nature itself. The province had always been a wide pathway connecting highly attractive regions of settlement. It lies midway between the fertile plains of the Rhine and the hospitable Paris basin. It is also placed squarely in the center of the natural route leading from Flanders to Burgundy. Physically the region was part of France; its inhabitants have therefore always been Frenchmen, but the lack of a natural barrier on the east provided a constantly open door for Teutonic invasion. In particular, the Moselle valley has always facilitated access into Lorraine. The province was thus a borderland disputed first by two adjoining peoples and, subsequently, by two neighboring nations.

As a duchy, Lorraine had attained a state of semi-independence in the tenth century. It then included the three bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun. From the eleventh to the eighteenth century, the house of Lorraine furthermore exerted sovereign power over Nancy and Lunéville. The loosening of the ties of vassalage which united it to the German Empire grew as centuries passed.

This long period of conflict was necessarily accompanied by modifications of linguistic boundaries. Glancing back to the end of the Middle Ages, a slight westerly advance of the area of German speech may be ascertained for the period between the tenth and sixteenth centuries.[24] From that time on, however, the regional gain of French has been in excess of previous German advances. Toponymic data afford valuable clues to early distribution of languages in the region. Occurrences of the suffix “ange” which is the Frenchified form of the German “ingen,” in names lying west of the present line, show the extent of territory reclaimed by the French language.[25]

The linguistic boundary in Lorraine assumes a general northwest-southeast direction as it winds onward according to the predominance of German and French. About 65 per cent of the area of Lorraine, at present under German rule, contains a French-speaking majority.[26] From Deutsche-Oth, the line crosses the Moselle south of Diedenhofen and extends towards Bolchen and Morhange. The entire lake district farther south is in French-speaking territory. About two miles southwest of Sarrebourg the line traverses the Saar. The Lorraine boundary is attained close to the headwaters of the same river. A German enclave occurring at Metz is the only break in the unity of the area of the French language. A large frontier garrison and a host of civilian officials account for the numerical superiority of German in this provincial capital.

The fluctuations of French in Lorraine since the eleventh century have been studied with great minuteness by Witte.[27] Basing himself on the text of documents examined in the archives of Strassburg, Metz, Nancy and Bar-le-Duc this scholar succeeded in plotting the linguistic divide for the years 1000 and 1500. To these two lines he added the present language boundary as determined from his own field observations. His method consisted in traveling from village to village, usually on foot, and ascertaining personally the predominance of French and German in each locality he visited.

Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries changes along this linguistic boundary appear to have been unimportant. The five intervening centuries are characterized by a slight westerly advance of German. From the sixteenth century to our time, however, the easterly spread of French has been considerable. This change is particularly noticeable in southern Lorraine, as if to show that the gap between the heights of the Moselle and the northern Middle Vosges had provided an outlet for the overflow of the language on German soil.

Compared with Lorraine, Alsace has the advantage of greater definiteness as a geographical unit. It is the region of the valley of the Ill which ends at the wall of the Vosges Mountains on the west. Its easterly extension attains the banks of the Rhine. This elongated plain appears throughout history as a corridor through which races of men marched and countermarched. The Alpine race provided it with early inhabitants. Barbarians of northern lineage also swarmed into its fields. Romans subjugated the land in the course of imperial colonization. The province subsequently passed under Germanic and Frankish sway.

The entry of Alsace into linguistic history may be reckoned from the year 842, when the celebrated oaths of Strassburg were exchanged in Romance and Teutonic languages by Louis the German and Charles the Bald, respectively. This solemn function was a precautionary measure taken by the two brothers to safeguard their territory against the coveting of their senior, Lothaire, to whom Charlemagne had bequeathed the area which, for a time, was known as Lotharii Regnum, and which comprised modern Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and a portion of Italy. The main point of interest in the territorial division which marked the passing of Charlemagne, lies in the fact that the future division of central Europe into nations of French, German and Italian speech was outlined at this period. Strassburg, the chief city of the borderland between areas of French and German speech, was a bilingual center at this early date. The versions of the oaths taken on February 18, 842, by the royal brothers, as handed down by Nithard, Charlemagne’s grandson and a contemporary historian, show a formative stage in French and German. The document has been aptly called the birth certificate of French. Louis the German spoke the following words in the lingua romana, which was then the speech of Romanized Gaul:

Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, dist di in avant, in duant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai io cist meon fradre Karlo, et in adjudha, et in cadhuna cosa, si cum on, per dreit, son fradre salvar dist, in o quid il mi altresi fazet; et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam prindrai qui, meon vol, cist meon fradre Karlo in damno sit.[28]

Charles the Bald used the lingua teudisca as follows:

In Godes minna ind in thes christianes folches ind unser bedhero gealtnissi, fon thesemo dage frammordes, so fram so mir Got gewizci indi madh furgibit, so haldih tesan minan bruodher, soso man mit rehtu sinan bruodher scal, in thiu, thaz er mig sosoma duo; indi mit Ludheren in non-heiniu thing ne gegango the minan willon imo ce scadhen werhen.

Ever since this event Alsace has occupied the European historical stage as a bone of contention between German-speaking peoples and their rivals of French speech. A year had hardly elapsed after this exchange of pledges, when the division of the Frankish Empire between the grandsons of Charles the Great was formally settled by the treaty of Verdun. Lothaire, the eldest brother, was awarded Alsace and Lorraine. From this time on, Alsace became a part of the lands of German speech which form a compact block in central Europe. In 1469, however, Sigismund of Austria mortgaged his land holdings in Upper Alsace to Charles of Burgundy who thereby assumed jurisdiction over the districts affected by the mortgage. The treaty of St. Omer which contains the terms of this transaction paved the way for subsequent French intervention in both Alsace and Lorraine. Accordingly, a few years later, by the treaty of Nancy (1473), Charles of Burgundy was recognized by René II of Lorraine as the “protector” of Lorraine.

It was only in the seventeenth century, however, that France obtained a definite foothold in Alsace and Lorraine. In 1648, the country won by treaty settlement her long contested rights in Alsace. The treaties of Nimwegen (1679) and Ryswick (1697) confirmed Louis XIV in his possession of the major portion of Alsace. By that time French influence had acquired a paramount share in both of the border provinces. Lorraine, however, was not formally ceded to France until the treaty of Vienna was signed in 1738. French sovereignty over Alsace was confirmed again by the treaty of Lunéville, in 1801, and by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. It was to last until 1871. In that year Alsace and Lorraine became part of the newly constituted German Empire, the cession being determined by Arts. I to IV of the treaty of Frankfort.

The preceding paragraphs show that the earliest form of French and German nationality assumed shape immediately after the treaty of Verdun and at about the time when the language spoken in these countries began to present similarity to the forms used at present. In the partition of Charlemagne’s empire only two of the three divisions were to survive. The western evolved finally into modern France. The easternmost became Germany. Lying between the two, Lothringia naturally became the coveted morsel which crumbled to pieces in the struggle waged for its possession.

A highway of migration cannot be the abode of a pure race. Its inhabitants necessarily represent the successive human groups by which it has been overrun.[29] The Alsatian of the present day is, accordingly, a product of racial mingling. But the blending has conferred distinctiveness, and Alsatians, claiming a nationality of their own, find valid arguments in racial antecedents no less than in geographical habitation. The uniform appearance of the Alsatian region strikes the traveler at every point of the fertile Ill valley, where the soil is colored by a reddish tinge which contrasts strongly with the greens and grays of surrounding regions. By race also the Alsatian represents a distinct group in which the basal Alpine strain has been permeated by strong admixtures of Nordic blood. The confusion of dark and fair types represent the two elements in the population. In a broader sense the Alsatians are identical with the Swiss population to the south and the Lorrains and Walloons to the north—in fact, they are related to the peoples of all the districts which once constituted the Middle Kingdom of Burgundy.

Although sharply defined by nature, Alsace never acquired independence. Its situation between the areas peopled by two powerful continental races was fatal to such a development. But the influence of its physical setting always prevailed, for, despite its political union with Frenchmen or Germans, the region has always been recognized as an administrative unit defined by the surface features which mark it off from surrounding regions. The influence of topographic agencies has even been felt within the province. The separation of Lower from Higher Alsace originated in a natural boundary, formed by a marshy and forest-clad zone extending from the Tännchal and Hochkönigsberg mountains to the point of nearest convergence between the Rhine and the Vosges. This inhospitable tract first separated the two Celtic tribes known as the Sequani and the Mediomatrici. Later, it afforded a convenient demarcation for the Roman provinces of Maxima Sequanorum and Tractus Mediomatricorum. The two archbishoprics of Besançon and Mayence, both of Middle-Age fame, were similarly divided. The coins of Basel and of Strassburg point to the subsistence of this line during the Renaissance, when two distinct territories of economic importance extended over the region. In the administrative France of modern days, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin again reveal adherence to the dividing line provided originally by nature. Finally after the German annexation of 1871 the “districts” constituted under German authority, with Colmar and Strassburg as their chief towns, conformed once more with the historical line of division.

The Vosges[30] uplift has been until recent times the means of barring intercourse between the plains facing its eastern and western slope. The chain has prevented communication on account of the height of its passes, its thickly forested slopes and the sterility of its soil. The influence of these mountains on European history deserves contrast with that of the Alps where nature’s provision of passes and defiles has at all times facilitated land travel in and out of the Italian peninsula. Primitive wandering tribes found but scant inducement to settle in the mountainous area of the Vosges. Pastoral Celts settled in its environing plains long before they attempted to occupy the rocky mass itself. The Teutonic tribes which followed the Celts likewise found little to attract them to the Vosges, and generally migrated southward around its northern and southern extremity, the former route being that of the Franks while the Goths, Burgundians and Alemanni invaded France through the Belfort gap.

Alsace was a province of German speech throughout the Middle Ages as well as after Louis XIV’s conquest of the land. French took a solid foothold mainly after the revolution and during the nineteenth century. An enlightened policy of tolerance towards Alsatian institutions cemented strong ties of friendship between the inhabitants and their French rulers. Alsatian leanings towards France were regarded with suspicion by the victors of 1870, who proceeded to pass prohibitory laws regarding the use of French in primary schools, churches and law courts. These measures of Germanization were attended by a notable emigration to France. In 1871 there were 1,517,494 inhabitants in Alsace-Lorraine. The number had decreased to 1,499,020 in 1875 in spite of 52.12 per cent excess of births over deaths.

Nancy, by its situation, was destined to welcome Alsatians who had decided to remain faithful to France. The number of immigrants to this city after the Franco-Prussian war was estimated at 15,000.[31] Pressing need of workingmen in the city’s growing industrial plants intensified this movement. Alsatian dialects were the only languages heard in entire sections of the urban area. Peopled by about 50,000 inhabitants in 1866, Nancy’s population jumped to 66,303 in 1876. Metz, on the other hand, with a population of 54,820 inhabitants in 1866, could not boast of more than 45,675 in 1875. The census taken in 1910 raised this figure to 68,598 by the addition of the garrison maintained at this point. Altogether it was estimated that, in 1910, French was spoken by 204,262 inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine, out of a total population of 1,814,564.[32]

The present line of linguistic demarcation in Alsace-Lorraine rarely coincides with the political boundary. Conformity between the two lines is observable only in stretches of their southernmost extension. East and southeast of Belfort, however, two well-defined areas of French speech spread into German territory at Courtavon and Montreux. In the elevated southern section of the Vosges, the line runs from peak to peak with a general tendency to sway east of the crest line and to reveal conspicuous deflections in certain high valleys of the eastern slope. Its irregularity with respect to topography may be regarded as an indication of the fluctuations of protohistoric colonization.

From Bären Kopf to about 10 miles beyond Schlucht Pass, the mountainous divide and the linguistic line coincide. Farther north, however, French prevails in many of the upper valleys of the Alsatian slope. This is true of the higher sections of the Weiss basin, as well as of the upper reaches of the Bruche. At a short distance south of the sources of the Liepvre, parts of the valley of Markirch (Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines) are likewise French. Here, however, the influx of German miners, who founded settlements as far back as the seventeenth century, converted the district into an area linguistically reclaimed by Germans.

The linguistic boundary in the valley of the Bruche corresponds to the dividing line between houses of the Frank-Alemannic style and those of the purely Alemannic.[33] Villages of the Frank-Lorrainer style, in which narrow façades, flat roofs and close lining-up of houses are observable, belong to the period of French influence which followed the Thirty Years’ war and should not be confused with the former types. In Lorraine the houses are built with their longest sides parallel to the street. The entrance leads into the kitchen; rooms occupy the left wing of the building, the right providing stable space. In some respects this structure recalls the Saxon houses met east of the Elbe valley. The characteristic feature of the Lorraine dwelling, however, is found in the construction of the entrance on the long side, whereas in the German type of house it lies under a gable on the short side. As a rule the Alemannic type of house prevails in the mountainous sections and attains the valleys of the Meurthe. In the Vosges, Black Forest and Swabia these dwellings are distinguishable by their characteristic inclusion of all outhouses and barns under a single roof. In the densely peopled valley of the Bruche the most important settlements rest on the alluvial terraces of its affluents. In the upper valley the villages are scattered on rocky amphitheaters, and here the Celtic type of settlement is oftener met.

Witte’s studies show that, in Alsace,[34] the delimitation of the Germanic and Romanic domain is somewhat more complicated than in Lorraine. Valuable clues are generally afforded by toponymic data. The Alemanni are responsible for the suffix “heim.” Towns and villages with names bearing this suffix are restricted to the plain. The dividing line extends on the west to the sub-Vosgian foreland and attains the forest of the Haguenau on the north. This last section corresponds to the beginning of an area of Frankish colonization having its center at Weissenburg. The suffix “ingen,” which occurs in place names of southern Alsace, is likewise Alemannic. It is supposed to correspond, however, to a later period of settlement. The ending “weiler” accompanies the names of villages found on the heights.

These data led Witte to assume that the Celto-Roman natives of the plains were thrust back towards the mountains by the Alemannic invasion proceeding from the east. The designation “weiler,” which is also spelled “weyer,” “weyr” and “wir,” indicates the mountain sites to which the population of the plain was repelled by the Germanic flow. The Vosges mountains have thus been a place of refuge against Germanic aggression. Witte’s researches point to the probable peopling of the Alsatian slopes of the Vosges by tribes speaking a Romanic language during the invasions of Teutonic barbarians. The so-called Welsh element appears to be a Celto-Roman remnant of the population of the locality.[35]

The character of Alsace-Lorraine as a connecting region between two great European nations is shown also by demographic studies.[36] Life in the provinces is accompanied by conditions which prevail in Germany or France. The excess of births over deaths, which maintains itself on an average at about 10 per 1,000, is lower than in any other part of the German Empire. The rate of birth has decreased from 36 to 28 per 1,000 in spite of an increase in the population. The tendency of the inhabitants to emigrate is evinced by the large number of uninhabited houses. The decrease in the native population is largely due to the desire of many of the inhabitants to emigrate to French soil. In 1875 the proportion of native-born inhabitants amounted to 93 per cent of the total population. In 1905 it did not exceed 81 per cent. The strictly German element had grown from 38,000 in 1875 to 176,000 in 1905. Fully 90 per cent of these are native-born Prussians. Among them the teaching of French to children has increased. Molsheim, in Lower Alsace, and Ribeauvillé, in Upper Alsace, are centers for the study of French. In recent years German immigrants have become the preponderant element of the province.

Two methods of indicating the presence of a French element in Alsace-Lorraine are given in the accompanying map (Pl. II) of this region. The method of showing percentages according to administrative districts[37] has been contrasted with the plan of representing the actual extension of French predominance.[38] In one respect the map is illuminating. It shows the concordance of French and German authorities regarding the German character of the language spoken in Alsace, as well as the French nature of a substantial portion of Lorraine. The Rhine valley, a natural region, appears throughout as an area of German speech. The startling preference of Alsatians for French nationality cannot therefore be substantiated by geographical evidence. It suggests the persistent influence of the human will swayed by feelings of justice and moral affinity rather than by material considerations.

To primitive societies, a river as large as the Rhine provided almost as impassable a frontier as the sea itself. It had the advantage of being defined by nature. The boundary was actually marked on the ground. As frontiers of the Roman Empire, the Rhine and the Danube proved their practical value by the long period during which they marked the extent of imperial or republican domain. The history of oversea colonization indicates the partiality of colonial powers for rivers as boundaries. It is likely that in the very early period of man’s habitation of the earth, the tribes settled on either side of watercourses had little or no intercourse. As they advanced in civilization relations were developed. The divisive influence of running waters was therefore exerted most strongly at the dawn of human history. Later the river may become a link and finally may attain the stage when it is a rallying line for the activity and thought of the inhabitants of its entire valley.

The American Geographical Society of New York

Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe, 1917, Pl. II

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THE FRANCO-GERMAN LINGUISTIC BOUNDARY IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

The Gallo-Teutonic line of the Rhine was the scene of many a struggle during the reign of Clovis. In the days of Charlemagne the dwellers on the right bank of the Rhine were the “gens atroces et féroces” of French chroniclers. They represented northern barbarians, the foes of Christianity and of the civilization which Rome had given to the world. Before becoming a German river the Rhine flowed in a valley peopled by inhabitants of Celtic speech. The name it bears is of Celtic origin. When men of Teutonic speech began to press westward, the river supplied a natural moat which, for a long period, had formed part of the system of defense devised by the earlier inhabitants of the land. The strength of the position is attested by the slowness of Germanic infiltration on the left bank of the river. To this day the valley province owes more to France in thought and ideals than to any other country. The Alsatian temperament has much of that mental sunshine which Mirabeau calls the “fond gaillard.” This is assuredly not derived from Germany. His wit is of the true Gallic type—mocking, and tending to the Rabelaisian; its geniality is reserved for France and French institutions, its caustic side for Germany and Germans. It could never have proceeded from the ponderous Teutonic mentality. Alsatians are French in spirit because they know how to laugh well, to laugh as civilized men with the cheer that brightens the good and the irony that draws out in full relief the ugliness of evil.

The spread of the French language in Alsace after the conquest of Strassburg by the soldiers of Louis XIV was slow. The French governors of the province never compelled the Alsatians to study their language. Up to the time of the French Revolution, French served as the medium of intercourse in official circles and among the nobility. The mass of the people, however, retained their vernacular. Freedom, granted by the French civil administration, was equally maintained by the official representatives of French ecclesiastical authority. Religious tolerance in Alsace was felt notably at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the province being probably the only one in which Protestant Frenchmen were unmolested. Moral ties with France were thus cemented by the extremely liberal character of French rule.

The French Revolution was enthusiastically welcomed by the democratically inclined Alsatians. This event in fact consolidated Alsace’s union with France. French military annals of the period contain a high proportion of Alsatian names. A community of ideas and interests had come into being. The study of French was taken up with renewed enthusiasm in Alsace because the language was the agency by which the new spirit of the time was propagated. It became the medium of communication among thinkers. The revolution of 1848 accentuated this tendency. By that time every Alsatian who could boast of any schooling knew French. This linguistic conquest of Alsace was the result of sympathy with French thought and ideals.

The German method of imposing the rival tongue was distinctly different. All the brutality which attends misconceptions of efficiency among petty officials was given free rein in the process of replacing French by German. A stroke of the pen on April 14, 1871, suppressed teaching of French in the primary schools of the annexed territory. In other educational establishments the study of the language was relegated to the position of minor courses. It is worth mentioning that Alsace and Lorraine are the only territorial units of the German Empire in which the study of French has met opposition on the part of the government. The interest shown for the Romance language elsewhere in the Kaiser’s land contrasts with the efforts made to root it out of Alsatian soil.

The unrelenting activity of the Prussian officials stationed in Alsace-Lorraine has borne fruit, for the use of French by the inhabitants is on the wane. This is partly due, however, to the emigration of a large number of native-born Alsatians and the swarm of settlers brought from other sections of Germany. In one respect the results of the Germanizing propaganda have differed from expectations. They have tended to foster the development of Alsatian dialects as well as the spirit of nationality among the people. Alsatians preferred to become proficient in their own tongue rather than in German. At the same time, if Alsace is to be German, they are united in the desire to see their native province form part of the Empire on a footing similar to that of other German states. They apprehend eventual absorption by Prussia as much as the prolongation of the present “Reichsland” status of their native land.

The European war brought its train of trials to Alsatians no less than to other European peoples. French papers contain the complaints of natives of Alsace and Lorraine serving in German regiments to the effect that their officers exposed them to the worst dangers of war with undue harshness. It is not unlikely that at the cessation of hostilities the number of native-born Alsatians will have dwindled to insignificant proportion. A plebiscite on the fate of the province, taken then, might help German designs. But since a revision of the Franco-German boundary seems inevitable, a preliminary solution might be found in the abrogation of the treaty of Frankfort. The final settlement of the problem will be equitable only when the desires of native-born Alsatians shall have been taken into consideration.

Beyond Alsace, French and German languages meet along a line which extends across western Swiss territory to the Italian frontier.[39] Its present course has been maintained since the fifteenth century.[40] Beginning at Charmoille, north of the Bernese Jura, the linguistic frontier strikes east towards Montsevilier,[41] after which it makes a sharp turn to the southwest as it follows the strike of the Jura mountains. In this region the historical division between Teutonic and Latin civilization occurs in the valley of Delémont through which the Sorne flows. Teutonic invaders never succeeded in penetrating beyond the Vorburg barrier. East of the Jura, the line passes through Bienne, Douane and Gléresse. At Neuveville the valley is French. The line follows thence the course of the Thièle. With the exception of its northeastern shore all Lake Neuchâtel is surrounded by French-speaking communities. The parting next coincides with the line of the Broye river and extends across the waters of lake Morat. The western and southern shores of the lake are likewise French. It then skirts the banks of the Sarine until it reaches Fribourg, which it cuts into two portions. A strenuous struggle for linguistic supremacy is maintained at this urban edge of French-speaking territory. Inside the city’s line, German is spoken principally in the quarters tenanted by the laboring classes. With the middle classes both language and tradition are largely French.

In the twelfth century Fribourg had been turned into a fortified outpost of German power by the Dukes of Zähringen.[42] The city’s position between the Alps and the Jura favored its selection for this aggressive purpose. German language flourished under the shadow of its castles and probably would have taken deeper root among its citizens but for one fact. At the time of the Reformation, the Fribourgers decided to stand with the Roman Church. This decision converted the city into a haven to which the Catholic clergy of French-speaking Switzerland repaired; and the Bishopric of Lausanne was transferred to Fribourg, where it became the headquarters of active French propaganda.

Fig. 15—The shady arcades and sunny streets of Lugano in the Swiss area of Italian languages recall the typical aspects of Italian cities.

Fig. 16—The basin of Lake Geneva is an ancient domain of French language in Switzerland.

Fig. 17—Basel in German Switzerland recalls German cities. The Marketplace and the Government House (on left) are seen in this view.

It should not be taken for granted from what has been said that the cause of French in Switzerland is related to Catholicism. The case of Fribourg is an isolated one. At Bienne, another of the cities on the linguistic divide, the growth of French has an entirely different origin. This city is the center of an important watch-making district. The growth of its native industry favored rapid increase in its population. But the new citizens were drawn principally from the mountainous region of which Bienne is the outlet. The French-speaking highlanders swelled the ranks of the city’s French contingent to such an extent that, from numbering one-fourth of the population in 1888, it had grown to one-third in 1900. The German-speaking farmers of the plains surrounding Bienne, however, were never attracted by the prospect of factory work. At present Bienne’s population is believed to be equally divided between the two tongues.

Fig. 18—The boundary between French and German in Switzerland. Scale, 1:1,435,000.

From Fribourg the line takes a straight course to the Oldenhorn. Here it elbows eastward to Wildstrubel and attains the Valais country. In the upper valley of the Rhone, the line becomes well defined as it coincides with the divide between the Val d’Anniviers and Turtman Thal. In the Haut Valais the construction of the Simplon tunnel appears to have affected German adversely and to have caused an extension of French speech in the region. The recession of German from the Morge valley to the east of Sierre lies within the memory of living natives. The linguistic line finally cuts across the Rhone valley above Sierre and strikes the Dent d’Hérens on the Italian frontier. In southeastern Switzerland, French surrounds the uninhabited massif Mont Blanc. One would naturally expect to find this language confined to the western slopes of the uplift only. But the inhabitants of Bas-Valais districts and of the Aosta valley speak French as fluently as the population of the elevated valleys of Savoy.

The prevalence of French has been shown to be due to the direction of travel in this mountainous region. The two St. Bernard Passes, the “Col du Grand St. Bernard” and the “Col du Petit St. Bernard,” have determined the route along which human displacements could be undertaken with a minimum of effort.[43] The road encircles that famous Alpine peak. It has acted as a channel through which French has flowed into areas of Italian and German speech. This instance may well be adopted as a classical example of the influence of geography in the distribution of linguistic areas.

The origin of linguistic differences in Switzerland may be traced to the dawn of the period that followed Roman conquest. At the time of Caesar’s invasion of Helvetia, the mountainous land was peopled by men of Celtic speech. Barbarian invasions put an end to the uniformity of language prevailing in the country. Romance language survived in the highlands of the Jura and throughout the western sections of Switzerland. The Celtic and Latin languages spoken in the first five centuries of our era gave birth to French. The Burgundian conquerors themselves adopted this language at the time of the foundation of the first kingdom of Burgundy. German, on the other hand, is a relic of Teutonic invasion of eastern and central Switzerland. In the sixth century, the Alemanni took advantage of the weakening of the Burgundian Kingdom to spread beyond the Aar and overrun the attractive lake district. By the eleventh century they had succeeded in imposing their language on the native populations of the Fribourg and Valais country. The reunion of the two states under the reign of Clovis failed to unify the language of Switzerland. A split occurred again after the partition of Charlemagne’s dominions, followed by another period of joint political life until the death of Berthold V of Zähringen. After this event the consolidation of languages became impossible in Switzerland. The rivalry of the Alemanni and Burgundian kingdoms was maintained among Swiss populations. In feudal days, German Switzerland acknowledged the suzerainty of Hapsburg counts. Romanic Switzerland, on the other hand, leaned towards the House of Savoy.

That the area of French speech has receded during our era cannot be doubted. There was a time when French was spoken on the left bank of the Aar, from its headwaters to below Berne. At three different periods of history the German language made notable strides in Switzerland. Its earliest forward move occurred between the fifth and ninth centuries. Another advance took place between the eleventh and the thirteenth. The language made further progress during the religious struggles of the Reformation. Each of these periods was followed by partial regain of lost territory by French language. But the French gains fell short of the Germanic advances. Since the eighteenth century very little variation in the line has been recorded. A slight advance of French in the nineteenth century can be traced.

In the minds of Pan-Germanists a significant proof of the progress of French is seen in cases of the replacement of the word “Bahnhof” by “gare” at railroad stations—as for example along the mountainous tract between Viège and Zermatt. They also complain of the introduction of French words and expressions in the German spoken by Swiss citizens. To the tourist’s eye the advance of German in the Swiss villages of the Grisons Alps is indicated by the red-tiled roofs in the midst of gray shingled roofs. This is noticeable in the Albula valley where Romansh was formerly the only language of the natives. Now the old Romansh dwellings with their low roofs, white walls and narrow windows are disappearing before the wooden houses of the German settlers.

According to the census of 1910 there were 796,244 inhabitants of Switzerland who spoke French. This was about one-third of the country’s total population. Of this number, 765,373 were dwellers in French Switzerland, which comprises the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, a portion of the cantons of Valais and Fribourg and the Bernese Jura. The remainder were scattered in the German and Italian districts of the Republic. Notable colonies of French-speaking Swiss in the midst of the area of German speech are found at Berne and Basel. In all, three of the twenty-two cantons are of French speech. Fribourg and Valais contain French-speaking majorities.[44] The canton of Tessin with its 140,000 inhabitants is Italian in language. In Berne the majority of the city’s population speak German, only 120,000 inhabitants out of a total of 600,000 using French.

The history of Switzerland shows that at bottom neither language nor physical or racial barriers suffice to constitute nationality. Human desire to achieve and maintain national independence, or to establish liberal institutions, depends on will or purpose far more than on physical facts. Diversity of language never impaired Switzerland’s existence as a sovereign nation. Racial heterogeneity in its population likewise failed to weaken national feeling. Over such natural drawbacks the indomitable determination of free-born Helvetians to maintain their country’s sovereignty has prevailed. Frenchmen and Germans have always been warring elements in Switzerland, but animosity bred by racial differences invariably disappeared in matters where national existence was at stake. A bond of patriotism based on common religious and democratic ideals proved strong enough to overcome divergencies due to natural causes.

Fig. 19—View of Dissentis in the section of Switzerland where Romansh is spoken. This view is taken looking toward the Oberalp Road. The famous Benedictine Abbey stands out conspicuously on the right.

Fig. 20—The town of Zermatt, which lies within the area of French language in Switzerland. The Matterhorn appears in the background.

The Swiss Confederation originally consisted of the three German-speaking cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden,[45] clustering round Lake Lucerne, in the very heart of the mountain state. The desire to rid their land of Hapsburg tyranny had drawn together the inhabitants of this region as early as in 1291. In the ensuing twenty-five years, these mountaineers succeeded in making their democratic ideas dominant in their home districts. This led to the gradual adherence of adjoining territories. By the middle of the fourteenth century an “Everlasting League” had been securely established in this orographic center of the European continent. At the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, twenty cantons of the present confederation were finally rounded out. Of these, fifteen are now predominantly German.

French Switzerland receives a large number of German immigrants. In 1900 the number of Germans, both from German cantons and from the German Empire, was estimated at 164,379. In 1910 this foreign element had grown to a community of 186,135. The tendency of these newcomers is to become assimilated. Intermarriage and social intercourse favor French influence. As a rule the second generation of these Germans cannot speak the paternal vernacular and become lost in the mass of its French-speaking neighbors. The assimilating power of the French Swiss is also observable at Delémont and Moutier, in the Bernese Jura, where the piercing of the Weissenstein has brought a heavy flow of German immigrants.

The only localities in which German gains were recorded in the census of 1910 were Porentruy and the northern part of the canton of Fribourg. A counter advance of French at Bienne tends to maintain the balance even. This city had 8,700 inhabitants of French speech in 1910, as against 7,820 in 1900. In Fribourg itself the stronghold of Swiss Germanism is found in the university. The cultural influence of this institution radiates far into the mountain villages of Switzerland, but its work is offset by the campaign carried on in favor of French at the universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel.

NOTE ON CELTIC LANGUAGE IN FRANCE AND ITS RELATION TO ITALIC